Whoopi Goldberg on Lack of Black Females on S.N.L.: We Criticize But Nothing Ever Changes

Considering her long and wide-ranging career (Whoopi is one of 11 members of “Club E.G.O.T.,” those with an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony), it’s perhaps somewhat surprising her directorial debut has not occurred until now. As Whoopi tells it, it was just a matter of her finding the right subject, which came in the form of Jackie “Moms” Mabley, the African-American standup comedian whose career spanned from the 1920s into the 1970s and who was known for her progressive and bawdy humor. The documentary, Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley, airs tonight on HBO, and features interviews with Eddie Murphy, Joan Rivers, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Kathy Griffin, and Bill Cosby, among others.

VF.com spoke with Whoopi last week on the day after her 58th birthday to discuss how she prepared for her directing gig, what she makes of debate over Saturday Night Live’s lack of black female cast members, and how she and new View co-host Jenny McCarthy are getting along. Highlights from our chat:

Josh Duboff: First off, happy birthday! What did you do to celebrate?

Whoopi Goldberg: I was taken to dinner in New York. I had people I really loved . . . my friends were there. And it was a great kind of hangout party. And then went home, went to bed, got up, did another show . . . and then went and did The View, and went and did Rachael Ray, then went to the doctor, and now I’m talking to you!

Tell us how you prepared for directing.

I have to tell you, it was kamikaze. I was trying to figure out who was going to be the director, and who was going to do this, who was going to do that . . . And then I just thought, “Well, maybe I should do this myself, and maybe this will make it easier.” Directing a documentary is a bit different than directing a film since you’re not really dealing with actors. But knowing what you want, what shots you want, how you want to frame things . . . I learned a lot of stuff about it. I don’t know if it’s my passion to direct, but it was my passion to get the story out. People keep going, “Oh, it’s your directorial debut,” and I’m like, “Oh, O.K.”

So what was it about this particular story that made you so passionate about telling it?

Well, I used to do her on stage, and I had planned to do it again, and 25 years went by, and I was like, “Oh, shit, I better see if people remember who she was,” and I discovered a lot of people who are young folks . . . maybe they had heard the name, but they knew nothing about her. So I thought, well, if I’m going to do a stage show, I better maybe do a documentary first just to get the information and put her in perspective. And of course it sort of went in a fantastic direction—because it’s not a biopic, it’s about her impact.

Is there one part of the documentary that stands out as a favorite?

There are a couple. I was talking to somebody earlier about how she was considered to be racy, X-rated. And he asked me why and I told him [one of her jokes], so I guess I’ll tell you the same one. She said: “Two old ladies are walking down the street. One turns to the other one and says ‘I smell hair burning.’ Then the other one says, ‘Maybe we’re walking too fast.’” If you’re a kid, you hear that and it’s like, “What does that mean?” Those were the kinds of things she would do. Or she would talk about, you know, going down South to Florida and being stopped by a policeman who says, “Hey, what are you doing? Why are you going on the red?” and she says, “Cause I saw the white folks going on the green; I thought the red was for us.” That’s about a period of time in America when the races were quite separated, and change was coming. And change was coming through artists like Moms who were telling jokes that made you laugh and think at the same time. But the material is so good—it stands up today.

Are there projects that you think you might want to direct in the future?

I don’t think I want to. But I do want to do a series—you know how Ken Burns did baseball?—I think it’s necessary to make a 10-part series about black entertainment from 1900 to now. There are a lot of great, amazing stories. . . . I want to do a series that pays homage to all of those folks, so that the next person who wants to do a documentary will have a little bit of an easier time finding material because I will have found it for them. Because I think it needs to happen.

__There’s been a lot of discussion recently about __Saturday Night Live and the lack of black female comedians on the show.

Here’s the deal when it comes to Saturday Night Live, as far as I’m concerned. You know, it’s been on a long time. So, I don’t know where everyone else has been; I was aware of this. You know, this comes up every 20 years—“What’s happening? Why? Where is everyone?” So, I mean, “O.K.” Everyone talks about it, and then it will die down!

Are you getting used to having Jenny McCarthy around on The View?

Well, I miss the girls, but I like her. She's a really nice lady . . . You know, I loved Elisabeth, and I really loved Joy. And I miss ’em. But I really like Jenny. She’s a really good person. That makes me comfortable. As long as people are not mean, I'm okay.